10 Tips to Make the Perfect Cookies
Written by Joel Clark Friday, 19 February 2010 12:42
We recently opened our new retail store at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City called Bear Country Cookies. We named after our new cookie mix. In fact, did you know that this cookie mix was based on a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe we created 9 years ago that you make with our Kodiak flapjack mix? The recipe is still on our web-site so if you only have the flapjack mix but want to make Bear Country Cookies, click here. People loved the cookies so much that we decided to create a mix out of it. So with that introduction, let’s get down to business and get your cookie baking skills up to star quality.1. Eighty-six the bad chocolate
In restaurant lingo, this means to take an item off of the menu. Ok it’s pretty self-evident, so why are we even discussing this? Because I’ve had way too many bad chocolate chip cookies made with terrible chocolate, and oh what a let-down it is. Using good quality chocolate can make an average chocolate chip cookie taste a whole lot better. In our Bear Country Cookie mix, and at our retail store, we use the best quality baking chocolate we can get our paws on.
2. Don’t sweeten the pot
Just a couple of days ago I bit into a cookie that was so sweet I couldn’t take another bite. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes are too sweet. Taking a little sugar out of the recipe (about 1/4 cup from the average recipe) can tone down the sweetness of the dough and draw more attention to the chocolate, which is what you want to do assuming you followed tip one. Plus, a little less sugar helps the cookie stay puffy rather than spreading too much.
3. Butter them up
Especially cookies…use all butter for the best flavor. Some argue that some shortening (or margarine) will give you a more consistent cookie that won’t spread as much but it is not necessary (and who cares about consistency when what we really care about is taste??). Plus hydrogenated fats aren’t good for you, are not all natural, and usually have trans fats and preservatives. I can always tell when a cookie isn’t made with butter – not worth the calories. Some all-butter cookie recipes ask you to refrigerate the dough. We have a recipe with perfect proportions that doesn’t require refrigeration. Click here for the recipe.
4. Cold or hot – it’s not!
Make sure your butter is room temperature. This is tricky because if it’s too cold, you may end up with chunks of butter in the dough that can cause your cookie to spread. Leaving it out the night before is best. If you are in a crunch and must soften it in the microwave, be careful not to melt it or soften it too much, which can cause your cookies to look like pancakes. If this happens, you’ll need to refrigerate the dough for an hour.
5. Just beat it
The butter, sugar, and eggs need to get creamed! Don’t be afraid to really beat them up for two reasons: 1) if your butter is slightly too cold and you didn’t follow tip 4 very well, this will help get rid of any remaining butter chunks. 2) When the egg whites get whipped they start trapping air and this is where you get much of your leavening for the cookie.
6. Lighten up
Ok so you beat it up, now lighten up. Once you add the flour, stop mixing after it all looks combined. Over mixing causes the gluten in the flour to turn sticky, changing the texture of the cookie, making them tougher.
7. Crispy or crunchy?
There is a difference, and we like crispy not crunchy. Crispy means you can still have a soft center, not a dried out hockey puck. To accomplish crispy not crunchy, cook at a higher temperature for a shorter time. Some cookie recipes bake at 300 for 18-20 minutes – this will result in crunchy. 350 degrees for 8-10 is much better but 375 for 7-9 minutes is best. You want a golden brown cookies that may seem a little underdone in the middle. Don’t worry, they’ll set up.
8. Convection not convention
Ok we could have added this to tip 7 but we needed 10 tips. Bottom line: use convection if your oven has it. Convection heat bakes the best cookies because it intensifies the crispy crunchy thing we were talking about in tip 7 by speeding the crisping process (because it bakes faster) but leaves the inside soft and gooey.
9. Ban the bad pans!
Thicker cookie sheets bake better cookies because they allow for even and consistent heat. Cheap thin cookie sheets can cause the cookie to burn or not bake evenly.
10. Get out your grains
Guess what? Keeping in line with Bear Country Cookies, many cookies are fantastic with whole grains. Cookies such as pumpkin chocolate chip, apple spice, oatmeal, anything cinnamon, and molasses cookies are all great flavors that are fantastic made with whole grains while adding nutrition to a yummy treat.
Comments
I had not heard of Kodiak Cakes before and picked up a box at our local Safeway in Seattle. Having tried whole wheat pancakes before I was VERY skeptical.
Head to head - they trounced the brand I had enjoyed for years. The fact that my 6 and 9 year olds enjoyed them too was a bonus. Kodiak Cakes' texture and taste are both excellent.
Well done in producing a great product. I'm a convert.
A friend gave me my first box and we loved them. Since then I have given at least 30 boxes away and everyone loved them. We like them with blueberries the best.
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